Microsoft to slash Nokia’s workforce by 12,500

Microsoft has announced that 12,500 jobs will go from Nokia Devices and Services, as part of a wider plan to cut 18,000 jobs from the technology company.

The cuts are the biggest job losses announced in Microsoft’s entire history and following the completion of its purchase of Nokia’s handset business for around £4 billion earlier this year. The losses from the Nokia business unit account for around half of the total staff which were transferred to Microsoft as part of the deal.

Cuts to staff numbers come as no surprise with Microsoft saying it would cut costs by around £350 million per year by the end of 2015. The deal had created significant overlap in certain staff positions and chief executive officer Satya Nadella says that he wants to create a “leaner” business in an e-mail to employees last week.

A spokesperson for Microsoft UK said the company would not be giving a regional breakdown on where the job losses would fall.

Microsoft said the cost of the layoffs to the company would be between £643 million and £935 million over the next year.

In an e-mail to staff outlining the changes Nadella said the changes would result in a flatter organisational structure that is more efficient.